IT was a hard to describe week, packed with information on an interesting range of events that took place in Karachi. It all started on Oct 21, 1974 with a display of more than 30 paintings made by four young artists Riffat Alvi, Zawwar, Emily Reed and Yasmin Sharfuddin inaugurated at the PakAmerican Cultural Centre (PACC) by Mrs Maria Jatoi, wife of the Sindh Chief Minister, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi. The exhibits represented a decent collection of still life, landscapes, distortions, realistic art and abstract work. But still life and landscapes remained on the dominant side.

Things swiftly shifted from art to politics when on Oct 22 talking to newsmen at Karachi airport after arriving from Quetta, Chief Minister of Balochistan, Jam Ghulam Qadir said the recent tour of his province by Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had been very successful. Subsequently, many hostile elements had descended from the hills after realising that they had been misled. He said, ingeneral, most of the people in Balochistan were satisfied with the law and order situation and hoped complete normalcy would be restored in a short period of time. He told journalists that the Marri-Bugti area, after knowing that they had been misguided, were cooperating with the government. The chief minister claimed the Baloch people greatly appreciated the interest shown by the prime minister in the economic development of their province. The governor of Balochistan had also landed in the Sindh capital on the same flight.

A couple of days later (Oct 24), something strange happened at the same Karachi airport.

Malik Khuda Bakhsh Bucha, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Agriculture, fainted at the airport where he had gone to see off Mr Z A Bhutto. He was standing in the VIP line when he started bowing down to the ground. Before he fell, other VIPs standing by his side held him by the shoulder and helped him sit in a chair. The prime minister`s physician rushed towards him but Mr Bucha, thankfully, recovered after a few minutes.

Speaking of collapsing, or almost collapsing,on Oct 23, the demolition squad of the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) went into action and cleared 11 out of the 21 major and minor illegal works of construction in Mohammad Ali Housing Society. The owners of the illegal constructions, in that connection, were given due notice by the KMC.

Amidst all of this hullaballoo, Karachi kept its pluralistic character intact. On Oct 25, the ten-day Dussehra celebrations concluded with a special puja in different temples of the city and colourful programmes were arranged based on the story of the Mahabharata.

The Karachi Hindu Panchayat had staged a serialised drama from Oct 16 to Oct 25 to mark the occasion in which 40 amateur artists took part.

Another congregation was held at Bohri compound followed by a variety show.

Addressing the meeting, Ms Shirin Ghorv, an official of Ministry of Minorities and Tourism, said the government was fully protecting the rights of minority communities. The speech was followed by bhajans, and traditional Hindu dances and songs. They were presented by R K Ramesh and party.